Third Hour
by Ember Nickel
Summary: A group of enterprising seventh graders try to stand up for the various things they believe in, and wind up inverting the system while they're at it. I wrote this years ago, so it may not be great:see more inside.
1. A Charismatic, Trustworthy Leader

**Author's Note: **_I wrote this a few years ago. It's not technically a marching band story, as these are little seventh graders (:p), too young to march. But if you liked "Boulevard of Broken Reeds" you might see the precursor to one of its star characters-he's not in this chapter, but he'll get there. So if you'd like to read more of my early work, let me know!_

Helena Larson had given up counting.

Kids were playing their instruments. So what else was new? She reminded them each day not to play until she started warm-ups. They never listened.

To their credit, the French horns were not playing. They were talking. Ms. Larson was okay with that. None of them had practiced for their auditions, so they were all "first chair"-i. e. tied for last. Now they debated who should get the official honors.

"I was first chair last year, when my mom made me practice," Dana Fisher boasted. Her hair was dyed blond, as it always had been. She wore some brand-name shirt that exposed her navel. _That_ was an infraction of _school_ rules. Ms. Larson wrote her name down as she struggled to find her music.

"But the first chair is in charge of handing out papers, and I'm like the best at it! You ever seen me drop my binder?" Eric Wright questioned.

"Yeah, we saw it all the way down the hall," cut in a tuba player.

"But I, unlike you…" Simon Gibson paused for dramatic effect, "am a charismatic, trustworthy leader that people can rally around."

"What the heck does that mean?" asked Dana.

"Haven't the slightest. It was in our history book describing Frank Roosevelt."

Ms. Larson found her music. It was right on the stand the whole time. "Stop playing, we've got Concert F in front of us and that's a doozy."

Nobody heard her except the first-chair trumpet, who wasn't talking. "SHUT UP!" she bellowed.

Everyone turned to look at Kimberly Forrest, normally much quieter.

"Um…Concert F, everybody?" a shocked Ms. Larson said.

They played it, not well, but they played it. "Now everyone please take out the new piece, _Persevere._"

Some trumpets started to play their opening notes. In the percussion section, Gabrielle Dew played the Concert F chord on the metallophone. The French horns didn't need to argue-there was only one part.

Kimberly scanned the music for changes in the time or key signature so they wouldn't surprise her. There were none. There was a repeat sign in the middle for the percussion solo, however.

She was about to look back at the top. Something had seemed funny…but Ms. Larson raised her hands and the opening instruments (flutes and trumpets), sightread their way through the first eight measures.


	2. The Assertive Oboist

At measure nine, Hannah Wood sighed. Sixteenth notes? How in the world did Ms. Larson expect her to handle those?

Unfolding the three pages, she knew in her heart she would never learn it in time. The concert was in four months, and it was impossible, unless…

Unless she cut WorldSnap.

Hannah hated WorldSnap, as did the majority of the Aurora Middle School student body. She never paid any attention to it, instead socializing with her best friends Mo and Kevin, both of whom played alto sax. It was a student-geared television program that filmed young teens throughout the world. Nobody in her class watched it, and now that she thought about it, the teacher probably wouldn't notice if she left to go practice.

Ms. Larson cut the band off. "Can I hear snares at measure 3?"

Hannah turned to Mo. "Does this look hard?" she mouthed.

He nodded.

"Okay, now everybody, first eight measures."

Neither oboe nor saxophone played. Hannah mouthed her question to Kevin, who vehemently agreed.

The conversation was cut short as all instruments joined for measure 9, second go-round. After an exciting eight-measure fanfare, the intercom buzzed as third period ended.

On the way to art, Hannah popped the question. "Whaddaya guys think we skip WorldSnap and come practice this piece?"

She could tell Kevin was interested, but the latter was a good, law-abiding student and would never.

Mo was less hooked. "Maybe. If it looks like we wouldn't learn it otherwise."

Eric Wright dropped his binder. Math papers clouded the hallway. "Let me help you," Kevin said, bending down to pick them up.

Then he whispered, "Hard piece, eh?"

"You better believe it!"

The kids scurried into class as fourth hour began, but the seeds of an idea had been sown.


	3. Kimberly's Deduction

Another band rehearsal had ended. Simon, Eric, and Dana bravely walked towards Ms. Larson to ask for another chance at an audition.

It had been Simon's idea. "We have nothing to lose," he explained.

"Not even Ms. Larson's favor?" Dana worriedly double-checked.

Eric knew the answer to that one. "I don't think it's very high at the moment."

"Okay…but you're doing the talking."

"Relax!" Simon assured her. "I'm a charismatic, trustworthy, leader. Remember?"

He approached the podium confidently. "Ms. Larson? We all know that we didn't do so well on our auditions."

"Couldn't have said it truer myself," Ms. Larson replied with a sigh.

"So in the interest of determining who's the first chair, we'd like to try again."

"Not in a million years! It's your problem, after all."

"That's just not fair!" Dana yelled.

"That's just the way it is."

Meanwhile…

The French horns each would put their own music away after rehearsal. In all the other sections, it fell to the first chair to do that. As Kimberly methodically stacked the paper, she realized what she'd been looking for the last time. Up at the very top it said, _Dedicated to the students of Springfield Senior High_.

This was not the surprise-two of the last concert's pieces had said similar things. One was for homecoming weekend, and one was to commemorate the school's hundredth anniversary. As far as Kimberly knew, Aurora had never had a piece of music written for it, but she'd played the preceding two with pride.

It was the words underneath that Kimberly paid attention to: _In memory of Theodore Flit._

And she knew.

As she carried the papers out, she turned to say "Let me get this straight. Theodore Flit was a student at Springfield Senior High who died, right?"

"Couldn't have said it truer myself," Ms. Larson confirmed, although she didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"So why do we have to play a song about it? It only reinforces our society's pessimistic attitude. Can't we play a song dedicated to, oh, some sports team who rallied to win a championship of some sort? Or something sanguine?" Kimberly was very proud that she knew what sanguine meant.

"Not in a million years! It's your problem, after all."

Kimberly was really mad now. "No it isn't! It's Theodore Flit's problem. If he died young, must I feel guilty I'm alive?"

"That's just the way it is."


	4. Hannah Takes the Plunge

Hannah glanced around the room. Kevin was peering over Mo's desk and they were excitedly muttering about something.

She had never minded having her best friends be boys. They would be there if everyone else scorned her, and that was what she really wanted.

Nobody was even looking at the screen, where WorldSnap was interviewing an Inuit boy from Canada. The only one facing it was Eric, and he was arguing with Simon and Dana over something.

The supervisor, Mr. Wales, made no move to get the kids' attention. Hannah tapped Mo on the shoulder. "I'm going to go."

"Where?" Kevin asked, wide-eyed.

"Down to the band room. To practice that stupid piece."

"I'll come with you. I'm writing my own piece and I need to test it out," Mo excitedly said.

Kevin was still dubious. "You guys, you're going to get caught."

"By who?" Mo teased. "Our ex-best friend who squealed? Nobody's going to notice we're gone."

"All right, go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you!"

"You're not coming?" Hannah gasped.

"No."

The friends saw it would be no use trying to change his mind, so they checked the hallways for teachers. None. Carefully, they tiptoed downstairs.

Mo scouted ahead. "Looks empty. Grab the oboe."

Hannah grabbed the oboe. Mo grabbed his saxophone. As they entered the band room, they were shocked to find Gabrielle Dew inside. "What are you doing here?" Hannah asked.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"We came to practice _Persevere_ because it looks impossibly hard," Mo stated clearly.

"Ditto. I won't tell on you if you don't tell on me."

"Deal." Hannah breathed a sigh of relief.

The trio tried to practice, but with each at different sections only cacophony resulted. "Let's do it together," Mo suggested.

So they played together, from the top. They weren't great, but Gabrielle thought if they did it consistently they would improve.

And in the Aurora Middle School band room that day, putting their right hands over Ms. Larson's music stand, the three students made a pact to persevere at improving their music.


	5. Party 'Round the Podium

At lunch, Mo and Hannah told Kevin they had succeeded and had not been spotted. The next day, he decided to go with them. They would have made it, too, had not Kimberly looked up from her book at that exact moment. "Where are you going?" she innocently asked.

They had no choice but to tell her, and divulged the secret. Half-expecting her to tattle to Mr. Wales, instead she admiringly complemented her classmates. "That's really brave."

"You can come with us," Mo offered.

"Ah, no thanks."

"Okay then, let's go before someone sees us," Kevin worried. They quickly left.

Kimberly picked up a piece of paper on the floor. "You dropped this!" she whispered, running after them. "Hey, who's writing their own music?"

"Mo," Kevin quietly replied.

"Was that what you guys were talking about earlier?" realized Hannah.

"It's not that great," Mo sheepishly apologized.

"I'll be the judge of that." Kimberly followed them down to the band room, where, producing her instrument, she began to play the beginning trumpet part. "Not bad! Can I see the other parts?"

"Sure. Maybe you can help."

As Hannah set up her mouthpiece and introduced Kevin and Gabrielle, Kimberly and Mo continued their work.

Five minutes later, three more kids came walking through. "What the heck are you doing here?" Kimberly asked.

Eric and Dana looked to Simon for guidance. "We missed our auditions, so after much pressure Ms. Larson said if we practiced once a week-extra-in here she'd let us pass."

"Come every day like us," Kevin invited them. "We're practicing _Persevere_."

"And Mo's writing his own piece," an excited Kimberly added.

"I'm in." Eric shrugged.

"Sounds cool to me," Simon dittoed.

"I…don't want to be the only one left out," Dana agreed.

Gabrielle beamed. "We've got ourselves an ensemble."


	6. A Daring, Rebellious Leader

Two months later (two months till the band concert)…

Kevin stood at the door to the band room. He spun around clockwise. He spun around counterclockwise.

Then he went in and sat down.

The ritual had grown unnecessary seven weeks ago, when the other's testimony had finally assured him, there were no teachers. There would not _be_ any teachers. It was just a silly routine for old times' sake.

Inside, Gabrielle was complimenting Hannah on mastering the sixteenth notes. Dana was practicing her breath endurance. And Mo was still doing his stupid project. Kevin had become bored of it not long after the ensemble began to meet.

"Nice job! That's twelve beats! But you'll need sixteen for that long stretch at the end," Eric informed Dana.

"Oh, good grief. Just sneak a breath. _I_ can't hold sixteen beats and I'm still the first chair…which is more than any of you can say," Kimberly teased.

"Nice one," Simon admitted.

"Can I see that oboe for a second?" Mo asked Hannah. "Hmm…"

He scribbled a few things down and then exulted, "Done. Done! D-U-N Done!"

"Er, it's D-O-N-E," Kevin corrected.

"That, too."

Kimberly played her part straight through. "Dang, Mo, this's better than_ Persevere_!"

"Of course," she hinted darkly to herself, "anything would be better than _Persevere_, considering…"

"Considering what?" Simon pressed her.

"Well, check it out." She pulled her copy from the folder and laid it on the ground. "Check this out. _In memory of Theodore Flit_. I was talking to Ms. Larson about this…he's a kid from this Springfield High who died. I just don't want to play something full of gloom and despair."

"But it isn't!" Gabrielle argued. "It's fun!"

"It would have been fun, if it hadn't been written for that purpose," conceded Kimberly.

"Kimberly, you're insane. Music is music, and this music is not full of gloom and despair. Tell you what. Let's say this hadn't _said_ it was in memory of Theodore Flit and you'd never heard of him. Would you still think it was full of gloom and despair?" hypothesized Eric.

"No, but I would be wrong."

"You know Kimberly, I'm kinda hooked on your idea," Simon admitted. "Mo, how long is that piece?"

"91 measures in 4/4 time, that's 364 beats SO THERE."

"Er, thanks. Kimberly, you honestly have a point and so I propose…what if we all played Mo's piece instead of _Persevere_ at the band concert?"

Shouts filled the room. "Are you crazy?"

"We'd get in trouble," Kevin yelped.

"It's not that good," Mo said modestly.

"We couldn't learn it," guessed Hannah.

"We could-but it would be a waste of time," Dana predicted.

"I like _Persevere_," Eric defensively stated.

"No one would hear us…the rest of the band would be playing _Persevere_," Gabrielle realized.

Simon shrugged it off. "Get them to join, too!"


	7. Subtle Infiltration

It was hard work getting the baritones to stop playing before rehearsal, but Eric Wright had succeeded. "Psst. Guys. Hey…guys?"

"What?"

"I was wondering, if you guys like band, do I have the deal for you?"

"I don't know," Chris Schaefer sarcastically responded. "Do you?"

"Yes. I do. Skip WorldSnap, come down here, and play a cool extra band piece-totally without teacher supervision." Eric had agreed to continuation of Mo's piece being played, as long as_ Persevere_ remained on the schedule for the band concert. And the more the merrier.

"I'll think about it," Chris sighed.

"That's all I ask. In the meantime, pass it on."

At WorldSnap that day, a few new faces showed up. Two trombones, a flute, Mo and Kevin's companion in alto saxophonistship (a girl named Mariana,) plus Chris made five.

A vote had been taken, and the results were 6-2 not to tell the newcomers about _Persevere_ and Theodore Flit. (Simon and Kimberly dissented.) Instead, Eric got his chance to be a conductor, leading the group in the performance of _Aurora_. (Hannah had thought of the name.)

It didn't sound great-there was an over-abundance of saxophones and horns, and poor Gabrielle had to try playing all the percussion herself. But they did it.

The next day, Chris brought the entire baritone section along with him. By the end of the week, twenty-four kids-half the band-were in the ensemble.

It had fragmented as well. Once everyone was there, Eric would stay in the band room with Mariana, Chris, and the like. The other seven hung out in the music foyer, already knowing the piece fairly well. Gabrielle had decided, after seeing the turnout, to support Simon's efforts in playing _Aurora _instead of _Persevere_. She was helping Hannah learn her part, trying in the end to persuade her to join Simon's crusade.

An odd friendship, if you could call it that, was developing between Kimberly and Dana. At first they seemed opposites-Dana a popular, stylish girl, who couldn't care less about the difference between first chair and musical chairs. Kimberly, in contrast, was a loner dedicated to her work and not afraid to say what she thought. Still, they had much to learn from each other.

All in all, any one of the ensemble could say things were going well at present.

It was the future they were clueless about.


	8. Minus Seven

Six weeks had passed.

At lunch, the eight founders of the sneaky group sat together. "Seven days till the concert and we are rarin' and blarin'!" Eric cheered.

This confused Kevin. "I thought you didn't want to play _Aurora_."

"I didn't want to replace _Persevere_. But I think now we have such a strong majority-"

"Majority? We have the whole band!" Dana interrupted.

"-we can just go to Ms. Larson and ask that we just add one more piece."

"Written by our own, talented, up-and-coming Mohamed Boston," Mo bragged. His opinion of his piece had changed drastically over time.

"I'm for it," Dana shruggingly agreed.

"Us, too," Gabrielle and Hannah chorused. The latter had learned her part well, and was even considering writing a piece of her own.

Simon was a little less enthusiastic. "I still would rather scrap _Persevere_, but I'm proud to support our own…well, whatever he said."

"All right!" Eric cheered.

"Wait," Kevin cautioned. "I think this is great. But-what about Kimberly?"

"Of course Kimberly wants us to play it! She inspired me to keep going!" Mo answered.

At the same time, Kimberly responded. "Of course I want to play it! I inspired Mo to keep going-er-not to brag or anything."

Simon had heard both of them. "Trust me. You're not."

"That's _not_-" Kevin shot a semi-murderous glare at them-"what I meant. What I meant was, Kimberly was all about how_ Persevere_ was full of doom and gloom. If it hadn't been for her, she and Simon wouldn't have tried to replace it with _Aurora_, he wouldn't have invited the rest of the band down here, and we wouldn't have had enough people to ask Ms. Larson to play."

Dana was confused. "Your point is?"

"What's she getting out of this? We're still playing _Persevere_, right?"

This got Kimberly mad. "What am I getting out of this? I'm getting to see Mo write his piece and maybe even play it! Doesn't that count?"

"But you know," Hannah admitted, "Kevin's right."


	9. Big Winners?

The next day…

Eric was waiting in the music foyer as kids walked in during WorldSnap. He did not let them enter the band room, instead directing them to sit on the floor. "So. I've got an idea. Ms. Larson said we were supposed to volunteer tomorrow for the introductions to the pieces, right? I figure, instead of us volunteering individually, we should introduce Aurora together. But Mo would get the attention, though."

"Wait a minute," said Steve Schaefer. "We're playing Aurora at the band concert?"

"Yeah," Gabrielle excitedly told him. "Everyone can do it, right?"

"YEAH!"

"Not so loud!" Simon warned them. "Ms. Larson could find us out. I told her we were playing it outside of school. I was the one that brought it up." He beamed.

"Anyway, it was just a thought. You don't have to do it if you don't want to. Let's play." Eric went into the band room, followed by the forty others.

His message had attracted most, but not all. Mariana still volunteered, along with a few other kids. Kimberly did as well. Eric had told her to at lunch.

But his idea had worked. With maybe thirty kids who would normally volunteer and four songs, Kimberly's odds of winning weren't even fifteen percent. But when only five kids did, the chance zoomed to eighty.

Ms. Larson drew names out of a hat. "Rufus…Aaron…Mariana…and Kimberly. You'll be my readers. See me after class to choose your pieces. Mo, I'm assuming you'd like to introduce _Aurora_?"

"You said it."

Thirty minutes later, Kimberly dashed down to the podium. "Can I do _Persevere_?"

"I don't see why not. Anybody else?"

Mariana shrugged. "I want to do _Addams Family_."

Rufus was jealous. "That's the only one I like!"

Aaron had a quick solution. "But Rufus, flute has a solo part on _Everglade Fantasy._ You should do that."

"I don't want people knowing I play flute! They'll think I'm a girl!"

"It's your instrument," Kimberly reminded him.

"True enough."

"I'm doing that Eenie Meenie Miney Mo piece, then?" Aaron figured.

"It's _Eine Kliene Nachtmusic_," Ms. Larson corrected him.

"For the record…I don't care."

"Hey!" Eric cheered when they came out. "All of our group got speaking parts! Are we big winners, or are we big winners?"

"Neither of the above," Dana sarcastically told him. "We're the entire band."


	10. Lunch

The day had come.

Sitting around the table, eight kids fidgeted. Hannah was scribbling in her notebook, writing the percussion part for her composition, _Middle School Madness._

"You ready for this, Kimberly?" Simon worried.

"I think so. I don't have any fears about speaking in public or anything."

"Good."

"So, what are you going to say?" Mo pressed her.

Kimberly's eyes opened wide. "I don't know! I never thought about it."

"Well, you know the gist of it, right?" Gabrielle tried to reassure her friend. "You don't like _Persevere_ because it's too sad."

Kevin ripped a piece out of Hannah's notebook without asking, wrote quickly and passed it over to Kimberly. "This'll do."

His small but neat script conveyed a blunt message. "This piece is called _Persevere._ It's by Felicia Gregory and was written for the band of Springfield Senior High when fellow student Theodore Flit died. A tragic loss, but not ours. Must we feel guilty we are alive? Is Ms. Gregory trying to force pessimism and cynicism upon our society? Or is this just the band piece we're about to play?"

"No way!" Eric cried. "That's just insulting."

"We have no choice," Simon sighed.

"Yes. We do," Kimberly sternly stared.

"What do we do now, then?" Gabrielle wondered.

Kimberly smirked. "We mind our speak and speak our mind."


	11. The Band Concert

Four hours later, Kimberly pulled Nick aside. "Here's what I have." She pulled out a notecard with a short paragraph scrawled.

_Coming up next is _Persevere, _by Felicia Gregory. This piece is dedicated to Theodore Flit, student at Springfield Senior High who died during his school years. We play it with grief, though we never knew him. But this is not a funeral song. We don't want to be pessimistic or cynical, though maybe that's what Ms. Gregory wanted. We want to commemorate a kid like us and for you to join us. Here's to you, Theodore!_

Nick beamed. "Brilliant."

"I'll have to get the 'real' one from Ms. Larson so she doesn't suspect."

"Go for it."

Dashing down the hallways, Kimberly found Ms. Larson handing out printed copies of _Aurora_, as opposed to Mo's notebook paper. He was amazed. "This is-like-real music!"

Kimberly got her card and lined up to go in.

All was quiet as the kids sat in their seats. Mariana rose to the microphone. "Hi, my name is Mariana and I play the saxophone. I'd like to welcome you all to the seventh grade band concert. Our first piece is the theme song from, _The Addams Family._ Some of you might remember the TV show, and others might just recognize and appreciate the catchy tune."

She returned to her chair smiling.

The song went flawlessly. Aaron got up to introduce the next selection. "Hi, my name is Aaron and I play trombone. We'll now be playing a piece written by Mozart for orchestra. It was later adapted for middle school band. As this is a middle school band…here is _Eine Kleine Nachtmusic!_"

After a smooth performance, Rufus began his speech. "Hi, my name is Rufus and I play the flute…"

Kimberly read over Ms. Larson's card to see what it said for curiosity's sake.

"…_Everglade Fantasy_, by Arthur Desdemond."

It was an easy piece, and the band played it well. Teeth chattering, Kimberly walked to the front of the stage. Her footsteps reverberated on the floor. She shook her head sadly, a minute movement, but Simon caught it.

She breathed into the microphone. It was amplified and echoed. The audience giggled. "Hi, my name is Kimberly and I play the trumpet. Coming up next is _Persevere_ by Felicia Gregory. It was written for the students of Springfield Senior High. When their star swimmer broke his leg in a preseason practice the team was demoralized. But through the encouragement of their fans, they won the district title anyway. We hope you enjoy the piece!"

_Persevere_ was the longest composition in the concert, but when it finished, Coral, the girl who had volunteered to introduce a piece earlier but had lost the lottery, rose to the microphone. "Hi, my name is Coral and I play clarinet. Our-"

"final," someone else continued.

"piece," and they took turns, word by word.

"is _Aurora,_ written for us, the kids at Aurora Middle School. We all consider it pretty special because it was written by Mohamed Boston, who's in the band with us."

Mohamed stood up and waved.

"So remember that even though we're young, we can-"

Everyone had said one word so Coral took over again. "still do things as well as you."

It received a standing ovation.


	12. Behind the Stage

Mo found Hannah in the band room. "Nice job," he complimented her, "but you played a B instead of a C-Sharp in _Aurora_."

"Can I help it if the two keys are next to each other?"

Meanwhile, behind the stage, Kimberly marched up to Ms. Larson. Her demand was an angry one: "Who the heck is Theodore Flit?"

"Theodore Flit? He was the coach of the first Springfield Senior High swim team back in 1899."

"When-how-did he die?"

"Natural causes, I presume. He was seventy-three. Oh-Kimberly, that reminds me." She snapped her fingers. "Where were you during WorldSnap? You were conspicuously absent from our rehearsals of _Aurora_."

"You knew about it?"

"I directed it!" Ms. Larson tossed her hair behind her shoulder and laughed.

"But-I thought Eric-"

"I found them out three days into rehearsals. Instead of reprimanding them, I simply took over…it was quite interesting, and Eric was relieved to be relieved, if you'll pardon the pun."

"Sure."

"Kimberly!" a voice shouted from down the hall. It was Simon. "Tomorrow's the last day of school! What kind of mischief are we going to cause for Ms. Larson?"

"Catch ya later," Kimberly apologized as she chased after him. "Simon! Wait up! What about the summer?"

"The summer? Whoa…I'd totally forgotten about that! Hey, Eric, Mo…everybody! Listen up! This summer, should we organize a musician's club? Or play secret agents in my huge backyard?"

"No chance," Kimberly sighed. "Our parents would never allow us that much freedom. Back in their day they could, or maybe in some books all the kids get to go out and do whatever they want, but this is the twenty-first century, remember?"

"So I'll have you over for my birthday."

"Your birthday's in February," Dana reminded him.

"Half birthday. August. We'll still have a fun summer-you'll see."

Helena Larson tried to count their plans, but gave up. It couldn't be done.


End file.
